Death Stranding 2 recently snagged the top spot on the UK physical sales charts, knocking Mario Kart World into second place. It’s a headline-grabber, sure, but the story behind the numbers is a bit more tangled than it looks at first glance.
Hideo Kojima’s follow-up to his 2019 walking sim sensation launched on June 26 and immediately took the #1 spot in physical retail sales. However, these boxed sales came in at a whopping 66% less than the original Death Stranding managed at its debut. Yikes, right? But before you start wondering if Kojima’s magic is fading, consider this: the gaming market has shifted massively toward digital purchases since 2019. Comparing physical sales now to those of the past isn’t exactly apples to apples.
Despite the decline compared to its predecessor, Death Stranding 2 still outsold everything else on store shelves in the UK last week. That includes Mario Kart World, which typically dominates these charts due to its inclusion in Nintendo Switch bundles. Following them were Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition, Hogwarts Legacy, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
It’s pretty wild when you think about it. Nintendo’s titles almost always control the physical sales charts. Yet, here we have Kojima’s sequel, a game that started as a niche walking experience, now pushing past Mario Kart and Cyberpunk in retail numbers. Shows there’s still a solid appetite for Kojima’s style of storytelling, huh?
Christopher Dring, editor-in-chief of The Game Business, broke it down on Twitter. He pointed out that while Death Stranding 2 is #1, its physical launch sales are 66% lower than those of the original game and 33% lower than Astro Bot, a title known for its strong physical sales in Europe. For context, Astro Bot sold 60% of its copies physically in Europe last year, which is a relatively high percentage for physical sales compared to current trends.
Death Stranding 2 was No.1 in the UK physical charts last week. Its launch sales were -66% lower than Death Stranding 1… but different eras. It's a far more digital market today. It's 33% lower than Astro Bot's launch, but that was also a physical heavy release, too.
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) June 29, 2025
Another big piece of the puzzle is Sony’s digital-only PlayStation 5 model. This console variant doesn’t even have a disc drive, so players who own it can’t buy physical copies if they want to. This factor didn’t exist when the first Death Stranding launched on PS4.
It’s fair to say that this move by Sony has created a sizable audience that’s locked into digital purchases, which in turn drags down physical sales numbers for big releases like Death Stranding 2. The real story won’t be how many discs were sold in week one, but how the game performs over the coming months across both physical and digital platforms.
Remember, the original Death Stranding sold 19 million copies worldwide. Who’s to say this sequel won’t find its success path? Sometimes, the way the game reaches your hands doesn’t matter as much as the fact that it arrives at all.
